BY LINDA DONNELLY

Family finds Gold and Adventure While Dredging on The Klamath River in Northern California

Does your husband have a new hobby? Did he one-day show up with a gold pan, vial, snifter bottle, tweezers and screen?

You thought it wouldn’t last, right? Then you begin to notice other things popping up–like a small sluice box which you almost tripped over in the garage, a nice heavy set of black boots for wearing in a creek, stream or river and a pair of rubberized gloves.

Did he begin to take weekend trips to a local spot that was, or is still, known for gold? Vials began to fill up with water and nice flecks of gold—some of them no bigger than coarse pepper.

Did he begin to bring home buckets of dirt and turn your bathtub into a prospecting center? Did he take you on a trip to Sonora, Columbia, and Jamestown where you and the kids wanted to see the sights; but instead, ended up in the wilderness digging dirt and bending over a creek? The gold there was a different color than the local spot, but only he would have noticed.

Interestingly enough, you discover your neighbor has this same hobby. You’ve lived next door for a number of years, and you think you would have known. Paul’s excitement rekindled our neighbor’s gold fever and he remembered a bucket of black sand concentrates he had set aside a year ago. They both started panning them right there in the garage immediately. Soon our neighbor borrowed our dredging video and is having thoughts of making his own dredge. You find yourself explaining to people about your husband’s hobby and they begin coming out of the closet with their stories about their own adventures of panning and dredging.

Paul came back even more excited, telling me how beautiful the area was and that we had to go visit. Of course, you’ve guessed that he has been infected with “gold fever” – either you have it or you don’t.

When Paul suggested a nine-day vacation to Happy Camp, I had no idea what I was in for! I’d had some big clues though, and I almost didn’t go. I figured that if he went and took our two boys, I would have nine days of relaxation at home. But, I’m big on vacations and needed one; so I decided to go. We love the mountains and usually take camping trips anyway. So, before we left, I made it clear that this was a family vacation, and I didn’t want to be left watching the boys, while he went off panning, or whatever the case might be.

On day one, after breakfast in 100 degree heat, we went to the Pro-Mack store. I HAD to meet Kay! She was this fabulous person whose name had been used quite regularly around our home recently—“Kay might know this or that, Kay helped us with this when we were up there,” says my husband. “So you must meet Kay.” And, she certainly lived up to everything her reputation promised.

Before I know it, we are on our way to a mini-seminar on dredging. Well, this is our vacation, and it’s so hot I’m thinking, I might as well join ‘em. I learned a lot from what Dave had to say—I paid attention and even took notes.

Day two is a demonstration with a visual of a mock river showing how and where gold deposits. Then we caravanned for a tour of different spots on the river where other people had been successful in finding gold. Dave tied together the theory, with the simulation of the actual field conditions.

Day three was the dredging day. We spent all day on the river and people went down underwater with Dave two at a time. Even the kids went underwater with Dave; and after getting my nerve up, I did some dredging, too. We were dredging in a high-grade pay-streak, and Dave showed us what to look for. Seeing the gold coming out of the bedrock cracks did it–I was hooked! Everyone was excited!Once you actually see the gold being recovered out of a natural pay-streak, all of the theory comes together and something clicks; you realize you can do it, too!
Days four and five were my favorites! We all floated down river in our wetsuits, equipped with masks and snorkels, with Dave pointing out some of the places we had seen from the road on our tour earlier in the week.

I can’t say enough about what a great time our family had. Dave was extremely thorough in his seminar and answered our questions all week long. The people associated with prospecting shop, The New 49’ers, and the people in our group were friendly and helpful.

About a week and a half after our vacation, Paul and Kevin returned to Happy Camp. They put the dredge in a spot on the Klamath which Dave said had proven successful before; and sure enough, it was again. I had never seen that much gold!

Now I think I’d happily trip over a dredge in our garage that we could take to Happy Camp to put in the Klamath River every summer.

Until next summer, though, my husband will go back to work, and I’ll get my children settled in school. I will probably still trip over buckets around the bathroom and nurse that little fever I feel coming on!!